Image collection

Last week we spent a lot of time walking the streets and taking photos of artifacts that made musical sense to us and that could be used for scores. Below is the first selection.

The idea is basically looking for markings or forms that could generate musical material. It makes more sense for us to look for material that is rather abstract, or that becomes abstract when taken out of context (by simply cutting the picture for example). Construction sites seem to be a naturally good source for material however we are constantly looking for other forms in other places that would contribute to the variety of the images.

Another good source for images was the area around the Beursplein in the heart of the city. Due to recent events, this area was heavily populated by news teams with heaps of technical equipment, cables running everywhere and general chaos. The cable arrangements on the floor, combined with graffiti and trash gives a strong ironic impression on the entire situation.

On a musical, technical note, we decided to incorporate the use of recordings from the city in the music. The use is purely electronic and it is somewhat technically challenging to create a system that uses pre-recorded material and still allows tactile immediate control over it. Such control is much needed in our style of improvisation. here is a first example of trying to bring it together: